Get ready for the special election May 13

The City of Minneapolis is gearing up for a special election to fill a vacant seat on the Hennepin County board. A primary for the county’s 3rd District will take place Tuesday, April 29, with the special election taking place Tuesday, May 13. Candidate filing for the election is now closed, so voters can see who will be on the ballot at vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/2014-special-election.

Hennepin County’s 3rd District covers St. Louis Park and parts of southwest Minneapolis, including the following neighborhoods: Armatage, CARAG, Cedar-Isles-Dean, Downtown West, East Calhoun, East Harriet, East Isles, Elliot Park, Fulton, the Diamond Lake portion of Hale Page Diamond Lake, Kenny, Kenwood, Kingfield, Linden Hills, Loring Park, Lowry Hill, Lowry Hill East, Lyndale, Lynnhurst, Stevens Square-Loring Heights, Tangletown, West Calhoun, Whittier and Windom. The special election will fill the seat that was held by Commissioner Gail Dorfman, who left the board earlier this year.

Voters who will not be able to vote at their polling place on the day of the primary or special election are eligible to vote by absentee ballot. Voting absentee can be done in person at City Hall, 350 South 5th Street, Room 201, or entirely by mail. If a voter chooses to cast an absentee ballot in person, that can be done at City Hall for the primary beginning Monday, April 14. Regular business hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Extended hours for in-person voting at City Hall include Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and on the final day of absentee voting on Monday, April 28, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

For the special general election, in-person absentee voting will begin at City Hall on Monday, May 5. Regular business hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Extended hours include Saturday, May 10, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and the final day of absentee voting on Monday, May 12, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

To vote absentee by mail, voters may request a ballot now. Go to vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/2014-special-election for absentee ballot applications in multiple languages that can be printed out and mailed in to request a ballot. Also online is a link to the Secretary of State’s absentee ballot lookup tool to follow the status of an absentee ballot that has been submitted.

Voters who are not pre-registered can still vote absentee. If voting by mail, voter registration materials will be sent with the absentee ballot for voters who are not already registered. Keep in mind the shortened window for absentee voting for this special primary and general election, and be sure to allow plenty of time for your ballot to arrive in the mail for you, and for you to mail your completed ballot in to assure it will be received by election time.

Register to vote

Registering to vote is fast and easy. If you’ve never voted before and need to register, now is the perfect time. If it’s been more than four years since you last voted, or you’ve moved or changed your name since you last registered, you’ll also need to re-register.

April 8 was the deadline for pre-registering for the primary, and May 5 is the deadline for the special general election. Voter registrations can be submitted any time, including online, and can help ensure a smooth experience for voters, with less time spent waiting in lines and no need to bring documents to your polling place. If you are not preregistered, you can still vote in the primary or general by registering at your polling place. Find more information about what is needed to register on Election Day at vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/election-day-register.

Volunteers always needed to serve as election judges

Election judges are needed in every election to serve voters in local polling places. Serving as an election judge provides an opportunity to learn about the election process and is an important service to our community. We especially need judges who are fluent in a second language to provide additional language support in the polling place, including Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese, Oromo, Laotian, Russian, and American Sign Language.